bulletin - Royal Astronomical Society of Canada

Supplement to the Journal / Supplement au Journal
December
decembre
1991
Royal Astronomical Society of Canada
B U L L E T IN
Volume 1
Number 6
La Societe Royale d'Astronomie du Canada
Aurorae and the Power
System
AURORA CURRENT
WESTWARD
EASTWARD
Joe Yurchesyn
To SUN
100,000 V
Senior Project Engineer
Nova Scotia Power Corporation
Halifax Centre
On March 13th 1989, almost all of Quebec’s
power system was knocked out for about five
hours, with some customers in the dark for close
to two days. The subsequent Quebec Hydro
press report, blaming the previous night’s au­
rora, was met with a certain degree of scepti­
cism by the general public. Believe it or not, our
modern power system is at risk from aurorae.
The impact of geomagnetic storms on manmade systems has been chronicled for almost
150 years. It began with spontaneous electric
currents being observed on telegraphs in 1846.
The first occurrence of a geomagnetic storm
affecting a power system was on March 24th,
1940, in New York City.
INCOMING
OUTGOING
CURRENT
CURRENT
MAGNETOTAIL
Figure 1.
The explanation begins with the Sun. A flow
of charged particles, called the solar wind, is
continuously streaming away from the Sun. This
AURORA CURRENT
MAGNETIC FIELD EFFECT
Figure 2.
solarwind distorts the magnetic field of the Earth
and stretches it out as a long cylindrical shaped
structure pointing away from the Sun called the
magnetotail. In so doing, the positive and nega­
tive charged particles of the solar wind are
separated, with each type going to opposite
sides of the magnetotail. Since opposite charges
attract, these particles want to become “un­
separated”. One path that they can follow to
accomplish this is down the magnetic filed lines
of the Earth to the upper atmosphere, and
through two curved parallel paths to the oppo­
site side of the Earth (and the magnetotail) and
then back up to outer space. See figure 1. The
high altitude part of this current causes the
aurora; the lowest part interaction (altitude~100
km) affects the power system.
Every electrical current has a magnetic field
associated with it. The magnetic field of the
auroral current interacts with, and distorts, the
Earth’s magnetic field. See figure 2. The move­
ment of the Earth’s magnetic field lines induces
(continued on page 2)
R.A.S.C. BULLETIN S.R.A.C. - December/decembre 1991 - Page 1
At the National Council meeting on May 17th, the
following rates and conditions for advertisements
in the
b u l l e t in
BULLETIN
is a publication of the Royal Astronomical Society
were approved.
Number of Insertions
Width Height
of Canada and is distributed together with the
7 .5 "
10.0 "
Size
1 to 3
4+
$750
$600
$480
$375
Society’s Journal. It contains articles on current
7.5 "
5 .0 "
1 page
1/2 page
activities of the Royal Astronomical Society of
5 .0 "
7 .5 "
1/2 page
$480
$375
Canada and its Centres across Canada, as well as
5.0"
5 .0 "
1/3 page
$350
$250
articles from members and non-members which
2.5"
5.0 "
1/6 page
$250
$175
are of general interest to members of the Society.
Manuscripts (in English or French) should be sub­
mitted to the Editor at the address below. Inquiries
about the Society should be directed to its National
Office at 136 Dupont Street, Toronto, Ontario,
Canada M5R 1V2.
Editor: Patrick M. Kelly
Mailing Address: 2 Arvida Avenue, Halifax, Nova
Scotia, Canada B3R 1K6
E-mail Address: [email protected]
FAX: (902) 423-6672
Editorial Staff: Diane Brooks, Harlan Creighton
RedacteurpourlesCentresfrancis:
Marc Gelinas,
11 Pierre-Ricard, N-D-Ile-Perrot, Quebec, Canada
J7V 8M6
Printing: University of Toronto Press
This publication is printed on recycled paper con­
taining 50% pre-consumer recycled paper and at
least 5% post-consumer de-inked fibre.
Deadline for the February issue is Dec. 15th.
Aurorae and the Power System
(continued from page 1)
a voltage in the ground as if the ground was a
wire in a generator. This voltage is about 5 V/km.
These voltages are direct current (DC), as op­
posed to the alternating current (AC) delivered
to your home.
Long transmission lines are electrically (and
physically) connected to ground through trans­
formers. See figure 3 on page 2. The auroral
induced ground voltage causes the ground at
each transformer to have a different voltage. It is
as if a giant battery was connected between the
transformers. The transformer has a high resist­
ance to the normal AC power frequency, but a
very low resistance to this DC voltage. The
result is a significant flow of DC current into the
transformers. The magnitude of this current is
proportional to the resistance of the ground
beneath the transformers. Quebec Hydro’stransformers, situated on the high resistance bed­
rock of the Canadian Shield, are particularly
susceptible to this type of current flow.
Transformers have coils of wire wrapped
around an iron core which holds the magnetic
field. It will not work with DC electricity. Trans­
formers normally carry two types of AC current:
load current, and magnetizing current. The
magnetizing current is very small (1% of load)
and maintains the internal magnetic field neces­
sary for the transformer to work. DC current is
magnetizing current only, and for economic
reasons transformers are not designed for the
flow of DC current. Even a small DC current can
cause a dramatic increase in the flow of AC
magnetizing current, perhaps more than the
load current, and possibly more than the coils
are capable of carrying. The immediate result to
the transformer is the overheating of the internal
coils. Also, more magnetic flux is created than
the core is capable of holding. This causes core
heating plus the excess flux spills into places not
normally designed to carry it, such as the steel
containment tank. This can cause sufficient
heating to blister the tank’s paint. A prolonged
flow of even a small amount of DC current can
destroy a transformer.
In addition to problems caused for transform­
ers, another problem is created in the power
system. For complicated reasons, the increase
in magnetizing current flow causes the creation
• Prices are per issue.
• Canadian advertisers must pay 7% G.S.T. extra.
• Advertiser is to supply black and white copy two
months prior to month of publication along with payment
in full to the Society c/o the b u l l e t i n editor.
• One copy of each issue of the b u l l e t i n contain­
ing the ad will be mailed to the advertiser.
• The b u l l e t i n is mailed bi-monthly, along with the
Journal to about 4,000 members and subscribers 90% of
whom are in Canada.
• Classified ads will be charged at the rate of $1 per word
with a minimum charge of $20, subject to the same terms
as above.
of harmonic voltages. Harmonic voltages are
multiples of 60 Hz (e.g. 120 Hz, 180 Hz, 240 Hz).
Harmonic voltages can cause misoperation of
relays in protection schemes resulting in errone­
ous tripping of healthy equipment.
Harmonic voltages also greatly affect today’s
most modern high-tech power system device,
the Static Var Compensator or SVC. SVC’s are
very complicated control devices which raise
and lower the system voltage at high speed to
damp out oscillations in the power system. In so
doing, SVC’s generate their own harmonic
voltages which are removed by filters. The nor­
mal level of system harmonics plus those pro­
duced by the SVC determines the rating of the
filters. Abnormally high levels of system har­
monics will overload the filters, causing the SVC
to “trip off” when it is needed most. A trip at the
wrong time can initiate a total system collapse,
just what happened to Quebec Hydro.
If SVC’s have such problems, then one is
tempted to ask “Why are they used?”, and “Why
are they so heavily depended upon?”. Well,
strangely enough, the answer lies not in engi­
neering, but in economics. It is an example
(continued on page 7)
ORIGIN OF GROUND INDUCED CURRENTS
Figure 3.
Alberta Star Party 1991
Glen Hawley
Calgary Centre
The 1991 Alberta Star Party was a joint effort
of the Lethbridge Astronomy Club, and the Cal­
gary and Edmonton Centres of the Royal Astro­
nomical Society of Canada. In past years, each
of these groups had taken turns hosting the
event at different locations in southern Alberta.
The once and future permanent site is now the
Waterton Heritage Campground, a private facil­
ity just north of the Waterton Park gates, off
Highway 6. Lethbridge handled local logistics,
Calgary the registrations, and Edmonton the
speakers, and this arrangement seems to have
worked very well. We intend to continue our
cooperative efforts in years to come.
The party is held each year in late August
near the time of the New Moon; typically on the
weekend following the Mount Kobau Star Party.
If the Waterton site lacks the superb skies of
Kobau, it does have some little conveniences
that Kobau lacks, such as hot showers, a small
grocery store, heated outdoor pool, and flush
toilets (a particular relief after the rather aro­
matic “one-hole-long-drop” facilities at Kobau)
Daytime activities in the park are only a few
minutes drive away. These things make as­
tronomy more fun for the rest of the family.
Most of the participants camped in the
campground overflow area, which the
campground management set aside for our
exclusive use. Serious dark sky fanatics had
their own area, outside the campground and up
the hill a little ways, while lovers of civilized
amenities could set up their RV’s in the main
campground, where they could have electricity
and water hook-ups for a modest extra fee.
Registration of $20.00 for the star party did not
cover camping fees, which started at $8.00 per
night. Those who did not wish to actually camp
out could go to the town of Waterton, which is
located right inside the park, to stay in one of the
motels there.
Around 150 registrants showed up this year,
and T-shirt sales were brisk. The traditional
Saturday supper was cooked on a four metre
long barbecue-on-wheels which showed up
towed behind a pick-up truck full of groceries. A
good two dozen volunteers were recruited holusbolus from the three sponsoring groups, to sup­
plement the Lethbridge cooking team. There
were burgers for the kids, steaks for the adults,
corn-on-the-cob, baked potatos, an enormous
vat of salad, and an excellent selection of vari­
ous home baked desserts.
The weather, while not perfect, was reason­
able. Afternoon thundershowers cleared off in
the evenings, only annoying us slightly with
some dewing problems. A large group of sun­
spots was slowly creeping out of sight around
the limb of the Sun, but enough of them re­
mained to make a worthwhile view through solar
filters during the day. The sky brightness caused
by the high sunspot levels did have a deleterious
effect on the nighttime views, as one might
expect.
While most of the attendees were from Al­
berta, some came from B.C., Montana, Sas­
katchewan and Manitoba. We hope to be able to
welcome more people from eastern Canada
and the United States, and plan on a bit more
publicizing of what has been till now a basically
local event. ©
Mount Kobau ’91
Dave Clyburn
Edmonton Centre
reprinted from
Stardust
After two wet Mount Kobau Star Parties in a
row, why would 140 or so people drive hundreds
of miles to take the chance of getting drenched
again? The place seems to get in your blood.
The mountain can offer tranquil beauty one hour
and raging thunderstorms the next. The sky at
our observing site, well east of Edmonton can
get very dark, but the brilliant Milky Way spilling
across the heavens at Kobau is another matter
entirely. For long periods, my telescope is aban­
doned; its field of view is much too narrow for
what can be seen here.
After a couple of years of attending, the
confusion of tents, R.V.’s and telescopes re­
veals its own order: Craig McCaw’s 17.5 inch
joins the Calgary group, near Ted Pigeon’s 20
inch Cassegrain. Lucien Kemble, Dan Lazar
and Murray and Joanne Paulson are also in their
familiar spots on the second tier. John Casino’s
36 inch is below. Above, on the road to the
summit, the Vancouver observers are on the
west side (joined by the Breckenridges) on the
concrete pad while Bryce Heartwell’s 14 inch
and my tepee are in their usual places to the
east. Linda and Robin Utter are everywhere at
once. The American group who form Refractor
Alley are missing this year as the Table Moun­
tain Star Party is on at the same time south of the
border, but appropriately, their spot remains
vacant throughout the week.
On Monday night, I wander down the hill to
check out the 36 inch. John Casino is busy doing
something else but graciously offers me, a
stranger, its use. Now, where else do you get a
36 inch telescope to yourself for an hour? Much
later, John Dobson comes out to see what we’re
looking at. Someone at the eyepiece describes
NGC 6888, the Crescent Nebula, as a big egg.
John scurries (and I mean scurries) up the
ladder to see for himself. After a moment, he
announces definitively, “This is no hen’s egg it’s a snake’s egg!” That settles that.
Midweek, the air is steady: Murray sees
Encke’s Division in his 12.5 inch and Bryce has
the central star in the Ring at 620x in his 14 inch.
Thursday night is calm and clear all night. Murray
finds an arc of the Veil Nebula in his 6x30 Zeiss
binoculars, unfiltered. Laced with dark tenta­
cles, M24, the great star cloud in Sagittarius, is
magnificent in my 12.5 inch. True to form Alister
Ling and Steve (a friend visiting from Australia)
spend three hours on an almost invisible plan­
etary with an even more invisible galaxy super­
imposed on its edge. Dawn offers the subtlest of
colours; greens, yellows, blues, violets. We try
out Steve’s 8x50 Fujinon binoculars and know
what we want for Christmas.
Friday night is cloudy, but after an all-nighter,
no one seems too upset. Showers on Saturday
afternoon threaten the telescope-making com­
petition, but they abate. Bob Drew’s 20 inch f/4
aluminium “Heavy Metal Thunder” takes a prize.
The evening is cloudy; it’s starting to feel like last
year again. A few people pack up and leave.
Around 11:00 P.M., skies clear and the air is
very transparent. The 36 inch is back in the
States, but it’s replaced by a splendid 25 inch f
5 with a Galaxy Optics mirror brought by the
MacMillan Planetarium in Vancouver.
We try out Bob’s new 20 inch. The Veil is
stunning. Guest speakers Al Dyer and Terence
Dickinson share that view. Near NGC 891, the
field is riddled with galaxies. NGC 7008 shows
a wealth of detail. The dawn comes all too early,
but then provides its own rewards. For the dark
of the Moon in August, Mount Kobau was again
the place to be. ©
One board memberfound perplexing the
scientific view that the north and south
poles have changed places several times in
the history o f our planet. She w ondered
why scientists couldn’t make up their minds!
She alsofo u n d evolution unconvincing be­
cause she could not imagine how asexual
lifeforms could evolve into male and female
forms . N o netheless, she said that she was
in favor o f science because it had made
possible cosmetics and skin creams.
R.A.S.C. BULLETIN S.R.A.C. - December/decembre 1991 - Page 3
N ational Science Foundation,
Conference on Science Education (1986)
MICRO-GUIDER: A
Computerized Setting
Circle/Database Device
David J. Lane
Halifax Centre
INTRODUCTION:
Micro-Guider, as I have named it, is a device
which I have designed and built to provide a
telescope with digital setting circles, complete
with a database of 7 975 celestial objects. It is
designed to provide many of the features pro­
vided by commercially available units.
As well as describing the Micro-Guider’s func­
tionality and software, this article will also dis­
cuss a future project which will enhance the
Micro-Guider’s capability. The author would be
more than pleased to provide more detailed
information than is provided here, for readers
who wish to consider building the device them­
selves. A blank printed circuit board and EPROM
(electrically programmable read-only memory)
chips are available at cost from the author. I can
be reached at the following “addresses”:
David J. Lane
26 Randall Avenue Apt. 4
Halifax, Nova Scotia
Canada
B3M1E2
Phone: (902) 443-5989
CompuServe ID: 71601,247
Internet: [email protected]
DESCRIPTION:
The Micro-Guider is a self-contained device
which connects to a telescope by using two
optical shaft encoders, one attached to each
rotational axis. The optical encoders translate
the movement of the telescope into electrical
signals which are interpreted by the Micro-Guid­
er’s on-board microprocessor.
The Micro-Guider is very user-friendly, incor­
porating a large two line by twenty column liquid
crystal display (LCD), and a sixteen button
keypad for the user to interact with. In addition,
the built-in software is entirely menu-driven.
As is normal practice with modern digital
setting circles, the Micro-Guider uses two ini­
tially known coordinates to align itself. This
allows it to work equally well with equatorial or
alt-azimuth mounted telescopes, since it does
not require polar alignment or mount levelling.
Once aligned, it uses the elapsed time and the
azimuth and altitude to calculate the current
right ascension and declination based on a
complex trigonometric algorithm.
In addition to just the right ascension and
declination display, the Micro-Guider also has a
built-in database of celestial objects. The data­
base contains 17 bright alignment stars, the 110
Messier objects, the entire 7 840 object NGC
database, and the eight planets. Five “user”
objects also allow for the storage of transient
objects such as comets or minor planets.
OPERATION:
The operation of the Micro-Guider is very
straightforward because it is entirely menu driven.
When the Micro-Guider is turned on, the MAIN
MENU becomes active. The MAIN MENU is
used to access four functions, the first being the
SET MENU.
The SET MENU is used to align the MicroGuider, set the built-in clock, and also to control
several programmable settings. The alignment
function asks the user to select two objects from
the built-in database and to point the telescope
to these two objects. After this procedure is
complete, the Micro-Guider is able to determine
the right ascension and declination that the
telescope is pointed to, until the mount base is
moved or the Micro-Guider is turned off.
The second selection accessed from the MAIN
MENU is the SELECT MENU. The SELECT
MENU is used to select an object to find (it is also
used by the alignment function described above).
It consists of a sub-menu used to enter whether
a star, deep sky object, or a planet is to be
selected. If a star is selected, the user is to enter
the number of the star (as shown on the front of
the Micro-Guider) directly on the keypad. The
star database is mainly used in the alignment
function of the SET MENU. If a planet is se­
lected, the Micro-Guider uses the date and time
from the built-in clock to calculate the planet’s
position. All nine planets are supported; if the
user enters a 3 (meaning the Earth), the calcu­
lated position is somewhat inaccurate as MicroGuider simply instructs the user to look down!
The deep sky database is subdivided into Messier
and NGC objects, with the object’s catalogue
number entered directly on the keypad.
The third selection accessed from the MAIN
MENU is the INFO screen. It displays the known
information (object number, right ascension,
declination, object type, and magnitude) for the
currently selected object.
The Micro-Guider, shown attached to the author’s Meade 2120 telescope. Photo by the author.
The last selection of the MAIN MENU is the
Another major part of the program is the The user objects are entered by the user and
GUIDE MODE. The GUIDE MODE is the main object database and planet calculation func­ stored in non-volatile memory.
operational screen of the Micro-Guider. This is tions. As mentioned earlier, there is a perma­
Using the basic software functions just de­
the screen where the telescope’s coordinates nent database of alignment stars (seventeen), scribed, a menu structure was created to act as
are shown. The GUIDE MODE has two screens: Messier objects (110), and NGC objects (7 740). the user interface for the Micro- Guider, com­
right ascension/declination screen and azimuth/ The database contains the Epoch 2000.0 coor­ pleting the software.
altitude screen. The first screen displays the dinates to a precision of 1/20 of a degree, the FUTURE PROJECT:
A future project which I intend to undertake is
right ascension and declination in which the object type, and the brightness of the object (if
to enhance the Micro-Guider’s capabilities by
telescope is currently pointed and the right as­ known) to the nearest tenth of a magnitude.
The Messier database was obtained from the adding the ability for it to drive a Dobsonian
cension and declination of the currently se­
lected object. The telescope’s coordinates are CompuServe computer network’s ASTRO FO­ telescope in right ascension so that it will track
updated whenever the telescope is moved or if RUM (provided by Darrell Green). The NGC the stars. Forobvious reasons, the Micro-Guider
a sufficient amount of time has elapsed which database was derived from the NGC2000.0 disk cannot drive a Dobsonian telescope in right
makes a re-calculation necessary. The selected marketed by Sky Publishing. In all cases the ascension with a single motor in one axis (as is
object is brought into the telescope’s field of databases had to be compressed into a size of done with an equatorially mounted telescope),
view by moving the telescope such that the 6 bytes per object in order to allow all of the thus it must be accomplished by controlling two
telescope’s coordinates equal that of the se­ objects to fit into the 64k of available object independent motors. The motors that I intend to
lected object. The second screen does the same memory. There is space available for about use are stepping motors attached to the azimuth
thing, only using altitude and azimuth instead of 3000 more objects, which in the future I may use and altitude axis driven at calculated rates of
speed and direction to simulate a single motion
for the brightest Index Catalogue objects.
right ascension and declination.
The planets are calculated using the algo­ in right ascension. This is the method used by
SOFTWARE:
The Micro-Guider’s hardware is basically a rithm described in the book: “Practical Astronomy most modern professional observatories.
The motors will be controlled based on the
dedicated computer, thus the software formed a With Your Calculator” (equation 50). The algo­
major part of the effort in designing this device rithm is not “super” accurate, but was a trade off following method. The Micro-Guider always
and thus reflects greatly in its functionality. The between speed, program size, and accuracy. (continued on page 7)
software was written primarily in the C program­
ming language.
When writing the software forthis project, I did
not have many of the luxuries available to most
programmers when using a conventional desk­
top computer. I had to start from absolute scratch,
by writing all of the software which scans the
keypad, outputs to the LCD display, and other
functions most programmers take for granted.
The first major part of the software is the
optical encoder and coordinate conversion rou­
tines. The optical encoders are read by the
software at a rate of 2 048 times per second.
Each optical encoder produces two signals which
are used to determine the direction of motion of
each shaft. These two signals when combined,
form a “grey code”. A grey code is a binary
sequence whereby only one bit (or signal) can
change from one state to the next. The software
detects a change in the encoder signals, then
interprets the grey codes to determine the new
azimuth and altitude of the telescope given the
current and previous grey codes.
Given the azimuth and altitude of the telescope, the Micro-Guider then uses the trigono­
metric algorithm described by Toshimi Taki of
Japan in
Skyand Telescope’s Astronomical
Computing column (February 1989). This algo­
rithm, given two initial coordinates at known
times, can be used to convert a telescope’s
azimuth and altitude into right ascension and
declination and vice-versa. Consult the article
A close-up view o f the Micro-Guide. Note that for entering negative declinations the
key is
for details of this algorithm.
used as the keypad has no minus key. Photo by the author.
Canadian “Starfest”
Comes of Age
Cathy Cresswell
Ottawa Centre
This year’s August 10th weekend marked the
celebration of the tenth year for Starfest, one of
the most popular Canadian amateur astronomi­
cal conventions. Starfest saw first light in 1982
with about twenty-five participants from south­
ern Ontario. It was conceived by Andreas Gada
and Bonnie Bird, founders of the North York
Astronomical Association. The N.Y.A.A. is an
active observing group started in 1980 in To­
ronto and currently has about forty-five mem­
bers. Club equipment includes 16" f/5 and 12.5"
f/6 Newtonians, a CCD camera and a surplus
Baker Schmidt meteor camera.
The Starfest convention is held annually at
the River Place Campground near Mount For­
est, Ontario. The Friday evening program con­
sists of informal slide talks under the marquis
tent and observing until dawn. Saturday has tent
talks morning and afternoon, a swap table,
commercial vendors, a catered dinner at the
site, door prize draws and a special evening talk
followed by observing. For other family mem­
bers there is a pool and playground.
Over the past ten years, Starfest speakers
have included many well-known amateurs and
professionals: Terry Dickinson, noted Canadian
observer and author of the popular Nightwatch
and other books; Dr. Fred Lossing of the Ottawa
Centre, a Stellafane judge for many years and a
designer of the 16" Newtonian telescope that
was used to discover five Canadian comets; Dr.
Tom Bolton of the David Dunlap Observatory,
discoverer of the X-ray source Cygnus X-1;
Steve Dodson of the acclaimed Science North
center in Sudbury, Ontario, who is currently
building what may be Canada's largest amateur
telescope; and David Levy, Canadian comet
hunter extraordinaire, now up to twelve comets
at the time of writing. Special treats have been
the continuous forty-eight hour coverage of
Voyager's Neptune encounter with live telephone
linkage with Terry Dickinson at the Jet Propul­
sion Laboratories; the comet panel discussion
with Canadian comet discoverers David Levy,
Rolf Meier and Doug George; and the on-site
optical quality survey and testing marathon by
Peter Ceravolo of Telescope Making magazine.
This 10th year celebration brought a very
special program and about 275 registrants. The
guest speakers for the Saturday evening talk
were Tony Hallas and Daphne Mount of Oakview,
California, who delighted us with their incredible
astrophotos. The daytime program included
special talks on optical design by Roland Chris­
ten of Astro-Physics and on telescope fabrica­
tion by Rocky Cimarusti of Celestron Interna­
tional. Other presentations were given by
Andreas Gada on the successful N.Y.A.A. Baja
eclipse trip; Michael Watson on the R.A.S.C.
eclipse trip; comet discoverer Doug George and
electronics engineer Bob Sandness on CCD
comparisons; and Dr. John Percy, Dean of
Science and Erindale Campus of the University
of Toronto on contributions that serious ama­
teurs can make to astronomy.
There was a commemorative cake cutting
ceremony Saturday evening and a number of
special award presentations were made to Star­
fest contributors from the past decade. Prize
certificates were awarded to winners of Starfest’s first astrophotography competition. Best
of Show honours wentto Ottawa’s Doug George.
Both Friday and Saturday nights were cool
and clear and afforded everyone spectacular
observing through a myriad of telescopes ranged
throughout the campground. It was a special
ending to a special celebration. ©
Starfest founders Andreas Gada and Bonnie Bird with the anniversary cake. Photo by the author.
NOVA EAST ’91
Doug Pitcairn
Halifax Centre
This year’s Nova East was held on the Labour
Day weekend, August 30th to September 2nd in
New Brunswick’s Fundy National Park. It was
hoped that the late date would increase our
chances of a clear sky. For the last three Nova
Easts, the skies have been poor until the last
night, and then fate has allowed everyone a
night of prime observing. This year saw a con­
tinuation of this somewhat perplexing trend.
Sunday night was indeed clear, and until the
twenty-three day old moon rose about midnight,
Fundy’s legendary dark sky allowed a feast of
observing.
Friday saw a so-so day turn into a cloudy
night. Several dozen people showed up for
public viewing anyway. You've got to admire
their enthusiasm! Then it was back to the camp­
site for several slide talks.
Saturday was rather wet with intermittent dry
spells. The corn boil and whatever roast was
postponed until the more promising Sunday, as
was the scope set up. We did get everybody to
fill out a registration form, and there was a brisk
sale of NE ’91 T-shirts, featuring artwork by our
very own Mary Lou Whitehorne. The scene
depicted was a typical NE '91 one: two rac­
coons, eating corn and playing inside some
hapless astronomer’s Dobsonian scope! In ad­
dition, the members of the Cape Breton As­
tronomy Club (Motto: “We put the party back in
Star Party!”) sold anyone and everyone a fa­
mous and very rare (till next printing) C.B.A.S.
hat.
Sunday the sky was broken cloud until mid­
day, when the clouds departed and left us a
classic clear sky. The corn was consumed and
astronomical babble was the order of the day.
The telescopes were displayed, along with as­
sorted gidgets and gadgets. The “Coulter gang”
dominated one section of the field, while the
large refractors towered overhead. The aper­
ture range was two to thirteen inches, with Tom
Anderson’s (Saint John Astronomical Society)
King Kong taking first place in the monster
category (12” f/9 on an equatorial mount). The
clear skies were no accident. A Styrofoam and
cardboard telescope was burned in effigy that
evening as a sacrifice to the cloud gods, while
amateurs stood around chanting “Clear skies!”.
Laugh, oh ye of little faith, but the clouds parted
and the photons were good.
The slide talks do a nice job of filling in the
cloudy nights. This year’s talks included cover­
age of the eclipse in Baja, Stellafane and the
G.A., stamps with an astronomical theme, as
well as an assortment of astrophotos from sev­
eral amateurs. We also distributed several small
door prizes, including an excellent framed photo
of Comet Levy (taken at last year’s Nova East)
by Greg Palman of Maine’s Penobscot Valley
Amateur Astronomers. Also given away was a
year’s subscription to The Starry Messenger.
We hope to expand upon the door prizes next
year as we are considering starting a small
registration fee.
One thing noticed this year was a drop in the
attendance from the Halifax Centre. The weather
no doubt was a contributing factor. Also con­
spicuous by their absence were any members
from the two P.E.I. clubs, Charlottetown and
Athena. The attendance from both south of the
border and from the Saint John club were both
up. Next year’s Nova East, (August 28th - 31st),
is ideally timed with a three day crescent moon
showing off to the public, then getting out of the
way for an all night observing session. ©
Micro-Guider
(continued from page 5)
knows the current right ascension and declina­
tion (coordinates on the sky) and the azimuth
and altitude (coordinates of the telescope). It
also can calculate a future azimuth and altitude
of the telescope for a fictitious object placed at
the current declination but with an increased
right ascension (thus at a time in the near
future). Knowing the current azimuth and alti­
tude and a future azimuth and altitude and the
time difference between them, the Micro-Guider
can calculate the rate and direction at which to
drive each of the two motors.
If this approach proves successful and tracks
sufficiently well to allow for time exposure pho­
tography, the next logical step is to add a third
axis at the eyepiece to correct for field rotation at
the film plane. This final step would open up
some exciting possibilities by allowing portable
and stable large aperture telescopes to be used
for deep sky astrophotography without their
normal massive equatorial mountings.
The author would be very interested in hear­
ing from Dobsonian owners who would like to
collaborate on this project.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:
I would like to acknowledge my employer,
OCEANROUTES SEIMAC where I work as
electronics design manager, for allowing me to
use their computer-aided design system. Iwould
also like to thank Nathan Cohen, for designing
and machining the encoder mounts. ©
Aurorae and the Power System
(continued from page 2)
where a complicated, but elegant solution is
cheaper then the brute force approach.
The modern power system has evolved into
one where generating equipment is remote from
load centres and interconnected by long trans­
mission lines. On any system, the power that
can flow is inversely proportional to transmis­
sion resistance. That is to say, the lower the
resistance (i.e. more lines), the greater the power
flow. However, on an AC system, things are a
little more complicated. Power flow is also pro­
portional to the angle between the sending and
receiving voltages. On an AC system, sixty
times per second, the voltage rises from zero to
a maximum in one direction, decreases back to
zero, rises to maximum in the opposite direction
and decreases to zero again. Believe it or not,
when the AC voltage is at a maximum at your
house, it is not at a maximum at the generating
station. There, it is actually past maximum and
on its way back to zero! This time difference
between the voltage at your house and the
generating station can be described as the
“angle” between the sending and receiving
voltages. Power flow is regulated by controlling
this angle. There is a practical maximum at
which this angle can be maintained, however a
larger angle can be tolerated if an SVC is used.
This is where the economics come in. There
are two choices available to provide increased
power flow: build more lines, or build an SVC. A
high voltage transmission line typically costs
about $300,000 per km, plus the substation at
each end. For a typical line length of 400 km,
that’s $120,000,000 for the lines plus several
million for the two substation terminals. An SVC
giving a similar increase in transmission capac­
ity costs about $12,000,000. Although the SVC
option results in higher system losses, the SVC
is still more attractive economically.
To date, the worst power system disruption
occurred at 2:45 A.M. on March 13th, 1989,
when virtually all of the province of Quebec was
plunged into darkness. Quebec Hydro’s system
collapse can be attributed to the loss of SVC's
due to high levels of harmonic voltages. At that
time, the Quebec system was sustaining a con­
nected load of 21 350 MW. Nine hours later,
83% of its forecast load had been restored. The
remaining 17% represents about 3 600 MW, a
little more than twice the peak load for Nova
Scotia Power!
The Sun goes through cycles where the aver­
age strength of the solar wind varies. The last
strong cycle was in the late 1950’s, during a time
when power systems were small and weakly
interconnected. This made them relatively in­
sensitive to the effects of the aurora. Today’s
power system spans thousands of kilometres,
depends on SVC’s to damp out instability, and is
much more sensitive to the aurora.
The aurora problem is not new, but high solar
activity in recent years has demonstrated how
susceptible the modern power system has be­
come. Currently, we are at the mercy of mag­
netic storms, but the next period of low solar
activity will provide time for continuing research
to offer possible solutions. ©
Professor Emeritus J.E. Kennedy at the podium in the lecture theatre o f the Convention Centre,
Montevideo, Uruguay, participating in the official opening ceremonies of the International
Colloquium on the Astronomical Culture in Modern Society on July 16th, 1991. Claude Hareau
de Estrada, on his left, served as the official English-Spanish translator.
The following evening, Professor Kennedy, a former President of the R.A.S.C. and currently the
representative of the Saskatoon Centre on National Council, delivered the invited main lecture.
Index-Volume 1, 1991
Note that the individual issues are identified
by letters as follows: F=February, Ap=April,
J=June, Au=August, O=October,
D=December. Thus a page reference of J7
refers to page 7 of the June issue.
A
A Canadian’s Pre-War Comet, Philip Mozel, F7.
A Call for More Scientific Truth in Product Warning Labels,
Susan Hewitt and Edward Subitzky, O 1.
A Saskatchewan Name in the Skies, RichardD. Vanderberg,
Au8.
Across the R.A.S.C.: Edmonton, Ap8; Halifax, Au2; Hamil­
ton, Ap8; London, J6; Vancouver, Ap8, J6, O2; Victoria,
J6; Windsor, J6.
Ah, the Amateur Enjoys, Alister Ling, F1.
Alberta Star Party 1991, Glen Hawley, D3.
Amateurs Needed to Observe Nothing!, Doug Pitcairn, J4.
An Encounter With Totality, Bruce W. Shier, 04.
Astronomie le long du Saint-Laurent, Marc A. Gelinas, J8.
Astronomy Day in Montreal, Mario Caluori, F3.
Astronomy Day in Montreal, Mario Caluori, Au7.
Astronomy Day in Six Cities, Steve Dodson, Au3.
Astronomy Workshop 1991, Dave Clyburn, F6.
Aurorae and the Power System, Joe Yurchesyn, D1.
B
Belleru, Sergei, Letter to the Editor, Ap2.
Bernstein, Louie, What is Heaven? A Personal Perspective,
Au1.
Binary Star Observer’s Group Formed, Ronald C. Tanguay,
F8.
Breckenridge, Catherine, Letter to the Editor, Ap2.
Broderick, Bill, Kingston Centre Hosts a Real Blast!, Au7.
Brown, Chris, Off the Deep End: Two Amateurs Try the Real
Thing, Ap4.
Brown, Peter, Meteors: Why Not?, Au5.
c
Calling All RASCals!, Glen Hawley and Mel Head, O8.
Caluori, Mario, Astronomy Day in Montreal, F3.
- Astronomy Day in Montreal, Au7.
- Letter to the Editor, F2.
Can the Disk of Jupiter Be Glimpsed With the Naked Eye?,
Roland G. Dechesne, Ap7.
Canadian “Starfest” Comes of Age, Cathy Cresswell, D6.
Clyburn, Dave, Astronomy Workshop 1991, F6.
- Mount Kobau ’91, D3.
Cresswell, Cathy, Canadian “Starfest” Comes of Age, D6.
D
Davie, Kathie, Ways to Increase Disabled Participation, F4.
Davie, Wayne, Ways to Increase Disabled Participation, F4.
Dechesne, Roland G. ,Can the Disk of Jupiter Be Glimpsed
With the Naked Eye?, Ap7.
Discovery of an Observing Site, Dennis Ryan, J6.
Dodson, Steve, Astronomy Day in Six Cities, Au3.
Dyer, Alan, Letter to the Editor, Au2.
E
Escadrille exceptionnelle de meteores, Gaetan Morissette,
J8.
F
Falk, Dan, The R.A.S.C. Eclipse Expedition, 04.
Fitzgerald, D.J., Letter to the Editor, F2.
G
Gelinas, Marc A., Astronomie le long du Saint-Laurent, J8.
- La dichotomie de Venus en 1989-1990. Ap6 (erratum,
J8).
- La nuit du grand OVNI de Montreal, F4.
- L’Astronomie en couleur, Au6.
Gibbons, Clive, Letter to the Editor, J2.
-SeeingThe Light, J1.
H
Haasdyk, Ulrich, Trip to Totality: One Person’s Experience,
O6.
Hailey's Comet Time Capsule Sealed, Patrick Kelly, Au6.
Halliday, Ian, Peter MacKenzie Millman, 1906-1990, Ap3.
Hawley, Glen, Calling All RASCals!, O8.
- Alberta Star Party 1991, D3.
Head, Mel, Calling All RASCals!, O8.
Hewitt, Susan, A Call for More Scientific Truth in Product
Warning Labels, O1.
How Astronomers Captured an Asteroid, John Howell, Au4.
Howell, John, How Astronomers Captured an Asteroid, Au4.
Hugo, Victor, quote, F4.
Hymec, J. Allen, quote, Ap2.
I
Introducing Children to Astronomy, Sylvia Smith, Ap6.
K
Kelly, Patrick, My First Editorial, F1.
-M y Second Editorial, Ap1.
- Hailey's Comet Time Capsule Sealed, Au6.
Kennedy, J.E., T.W. Webb’s Classic Text, F7.
- News Reaches the Colony, 08.
Kingston Centre Hosts a Real Blast!, Bill Broderick, Au7.
Kunej, Zeljko, Letter to the Editor, Ap2.
L
La dichotomie de Venus en 1989-1990, Marc A. Gelinas,
Ap6 (erratum, J8).
La nuit du grand OVNI de Montreal, Marc A. Gelinas, F4.
L’Astronomie en couleur, Marc A. Gelinas, Au6.
Lane, David J., MICRO-GUIDER: A Computerized Setting
Circle/Database Device, D4.
Ledger, E., quote, F2.
Letters to the Editor, Sergei Belleru (Astronomical Glasnost),
Ap2; Catherine Breckenridge (This is our Real Address),
Ap2; Mario Caluori (Astronomy Day in Montreal), F2;
Alan Dyer (New Format Liked), Au2; D.J. Fitzgerald (I'm
Not Dead Yet!), F2; Clive Gibbons (Testing Jupiter’s
Disk), J2; Zeljko Kunej (Courageous Astronomer), Ap2;
Alister Ling (A Cure for Some Headlights), J1; Alister Ling
(The Mazatlan Zenith Curse?), F2; Todd Lohvinenko
(Palms Up), O2; Jim Low (The “Old” Name’s History),
Au2; Bassel A. Reyahi (A Mystery of Procyon), Au2;
Bassel A. Reyahi (Astronomy Under Attack), J2; Jack
Simison (A Society First!?), F2; Gregory L. Zentz (Hu­
mour Wanted), F2.
Ling, Alister, Ah, the Amateur Enjoys, F1.
- Letter to the Editor, F2.
-Letter to the Editor, J1.
- Some Observations of the Zodiacal Light, Au8.
Todd Lohvinenko, Letter to the Editor, O2.
Long Time, No See, Brian Segal, F3.
Low, Jim, Letter to the Editor, Au2.
- Ramblings of an Armchair Astronomer, J7.
Luther, Martin, quote, 02.
M
Major U.S. Research University Discovers New Element!!,
Au5.
McCullough, Brian, Planets in the Palm of Your Hand, J4.
Meteors: Why Not?, Peter Brown, Au5.
MICRO-GUIDER: A Computerized Setting Circle/Database
Device, David J. Lane, D4.
Morissette, Gaetan, Escadrille exceptionnelle de meteores,
J8.
Mount Kobau ’91, Dave Clyburn, D3.
Mozel, Philip, A Canadian’s Pre-War Comet, F7.
My First Editorial, Patrick Kelly, F1.
My Second Editorial, Patrick Kelly, Ap1.
N
N.A.S.A., Poor N.A.S.A., Doug Pitcairn, Ap1.
National Science Foundation, quote, D3.
News Notes: Advertising Rates, J4, D2; International Astro­
nomical Youth Camp 1991, F5; le Annuaire Astronomique,
Au2,O2; Officers Appointed, Ap3; R.A.S.C. Promotional
Items, Ap3; Saskatoon Member Speaks in Uruguay, D7.
News Reaches the Colony, Ed Kennedy, 08.
NOVA EAST ’91, Doug Pitcairn, D6.
O
Occultation par Pallas, Alain Roussel, J8.
Off the Deep End: Two Amateurs Try the Real Thing, Mary
Lou Whitehorne and Chris Brown, Ap4.
P
Peter MacKenzie Millman, 1906-1990, Ian Halliday, Ap3.
Pitcairn, Doug, Amateurs Needed to Observe Nothing!, J4.
- N.A.S.A., Poor N.A.S.A., Ap1.
-NOVA EAST’91, D6.
Planets in the Palm of Your Hand, Brian McCullough, J4.
Q
Quotes, “Astronomy is the most ancient.. .",O2; “In the path
of a total eclipse...”, O8; “It’s our U.F.O....”, Ap2; “One
board member found perplexing...”, D3; “This is the
excellent foppery of the world...”, Au5; “What shall be the
lot...”, F2; “Where the telescope ends...”, F4.
R
Ramblings of an Armchair Astronomer, Jim Low, J7.
Reyahi, Bassel A., Letter to the Editor, J2.
- Letter to the Editor, Au2.
Reflections, F1, Ap1, J1, Au1.
Roussel, Alain, Occultation par Pallas, J8.
Ryan, Dennis, Discovery of an Observing Site, J6.
s
Saxon, Greg, The Incredible Blinking Reticle, J3.
Seeing The Light, Clive Gibbons, J1.
Segal, Brian, Long Time, No See, F3.
Shakespeare, William, quote, Au5.
Shier, Bruce W., An Encounter With Totality, 04.
Simison, Jack, Letter to the Editor, F2.
Smith, Sylvia, Introducing Children to Astronomy, Ap6.
Some Observations of the Zodiacal Light, Alister Ling, Au8.
Spinney, Steven, The 1991 General Assembly, O3.
Subitzky, Edward, A Call for More Scientific Truth in Product
Warning Labels, O1.
T
Tanguay, RonaldC.,Binary Star Observer’s Group Formed,
F8.
The Incredible Blinking Reticle, Greg Saxon, J3.
The 1991 General Assembly, Steven Spinney, 03.
The R.A.S.C. Eclipse Expedition, Dan Falk, 04.
Trip to Totality: One Person’s Experience, Ulrich Haasdyk,
O6.
T.W. Webb’s Classic Text, J.E. Kennedy, F7.
V
Vanderberg, Richard D., A Saskatchewan Name in the
Skies, Au8.
W
Ways to Increase Disabled Participation, Wayneand Kathie
Davie, F4.
Weil, Andrew, quote, 08.
What is Heaven? A Personal Perspective, Louie Bernstein,
Au1.
Whitehorne, Mary Lou, Off the Deep End: Two Amateurs Try
the Real Thing, Ap4.
Y
Yurchesyn, Joe, Aurorae and the Power System, D1.
Z
Zentz, Gregory L., Letter to the Editor, F2. ©